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Una forma más fácil de prevenir la tuberculosis

INFECTIOUS • The therapy is based on two drugs, rifapentine and isoniazid

• Treatment lasts 12 weeks and consists of one dose every seven days Reuters

Monday 16/05/2011

17:45 hours

U.S. health officials say they've come up with a simple therapy for those at risk of developing tuberculosis, thus overcoming a barrier to prevent the spread of the disease.

Patients taking a combination of two drugs only 12 times over three months get the same protection those who follow the usual treatment, involving 270 daily doses, according to a study released by the U.S. government. "Finding new and simpler ways to prevent tuberculosis is urgent, and this breakthrough represents a major advance in the treatment of this disease in decades," he said in a statement Thomas Frieden, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Less pills

treatment regimen, much lighter than usual, involves taking rifapentine, a drug manufactured by Sanofi, along with isoniazid, a drug used against tuberculosis since the 50's.

In the study, which lasted 10 years, involving more than 8,000 people with latent (infected but no symptoms and no ability to spread). Patients received either 900 milligrams of rifapentine and isoniazid once a week

under the supervision of a physician or the dose standard daily self-administered isoniazid for nine months (a total of 270 shots).

combination therapy was as safe and effective as the usual procedure in preventing the emergence of new cases of tuberculosis, researchers said at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society held these days in Denver.

Greater adherence The results represent a significant finding for tuberculosis control in countries like the U.S., but researchers have emphasized the need for further studies before this new treatment is recommended in areas with high incidence of infection, especially those with a prevalence high HIV / AIDS, as some of the antiretrovirals are known interactions with rifapentine. Although the usual therapeutic method works, the grip has always been a problem.

Often patients forget to take their drugs

or take them for a few weeks and then abandon them. "Ensure that those who need treatment, begin and end the tedious regimen of rifampicin is a challenge," says Frieden.

However, this new therapy is more straightforward. In the CDC study, 82% of patients who followed the completed, compared with 69% of those following the usual schedule of nine months. "Dealing effectively latent tuberculosis can not only reduce the potentially lethal consequences for affected individuals but can also prevent others from getting infected," underlined Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV / AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention .

A current problem

While many people believe that tuberculosis is a disease of the past year past were more than 11,000 cases in the U.S. and remains one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world. According of the World Health

(WHO), a third of the world's population is infected. This disease

kills 1.7 million lives each year and the number of cases-about 9.4 million, is higher than ever, according to WHO. In according to CDC figures, more than 11 million Americans meet that requirement. It is estimated that 5% -10% develop the disease. The results of the study, presented at a meeting could be a crucial step in the prevention of tuberculosis in countries where the incidence of this disease is medium or low, according to the CDC, trial sponsors. Source